In two days I watched all of Season Two of House of Cards, I was enthralled. Just when you think the scope can't get any bigger, it does. After all the excitement I gathered during the first season, despite my problems with it, I was excited to be proven correct; that this season would be better in pretty much every way.
This season is all about shifts of power, and the damage caused by making those shifts. Between Underwood and President Walker, between Raymond Tusk and Walker, between Underwood and Tusk, and even between Stamper and Rachel. Pretty much everything this season felt like an improvement over the last, though I still had a few issues with political policies and strategies, particularly because a few choices here and there I didn't follow how certain decisions effected others. However, I don't know whether that's a failing of the show or an inability on my part to understand the conflict. The addition of Jackie Sharp as the new political whip is a great change up, and Raymond Tusk proves to be an excellent foil to our main character. Once again, Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright do an amazing job as Frank and Claire Underwood, proving to be possibly the most powerful couple on current tv. If you liked the first season, you'll love the second one even more. Now I wait, along with everyone else for next February, when the third season will premiere.
Beyond this point I will have my thoughts and opinions regarding spoiler-worthy content of the season, you've been warned.
Reading reviews of the first season, a lot of people were worried that with Frank's acension to Vice President he no longer had anyone to challenge him and his authority, but they seemed to get around that pretty damn well. Primarily we have Raymond Tusk, who provides all the political grandstanding and backstabbing without being in office, an issue that comes into play pretty strongly in the back half of the season. Just when you think he's pulled all his strings, he has another one waiting in the wings to create more havoc. So Tusk creates all the political problems at and above Frank's power level, and Jackie Sharp helps to provide dissension in the ranks of congress below him.
Everything in this season is either a power play or a recovery tactic from someone else's power play. In 13 episodes I saw more power plays than I thought I would ever see, though I shouldn't be surprised, this is a show about the highest levels of government. I liked how they re-introduced Frank's bi-sexual leanings again since the first season. It was short, but said everything it needed to.
Most of the subplots I thought were excellently handled, especially Freddie's and Stamper's. The death of Zoe was shocking to me, I literally did not see it coming. Only in shows like The Wire can you see a character who was so integral to the plot of the previous season get killed and tossed aside in the first episode of the next. I also like that at the end of the episode Frank addresses the audience for the first time in the new season and says everything you need to know about how they treat characters. They serve their purpose, then they must be removed from the equation, don't bother mourning them because another will be in their place shortly. That was it for poor Zoe Barnes. Integral to the plot in season one, and killed in the first episode of season two, with a subplot about her death only being a minor detail to something greater in the first half of the season. By the second half we have another journalist who writes exposing articles about the White House and a half-dozen more important matters at hand.
One thing I noticed, since I watched both seasons in a matter of a week, was Frank's opening speech in the first episode. He talks about how you can tell how much power a person holds by where they are on the screen. In it, he points out that he is just barely in frame, but he's there. When he becomes Vice President, he references that opening and then makes mention of how close to center he has gotten to. And then of course, the final shot of the second season, He doesn't even need to say anything. Frank stands in the center of the screen, behind the desk in the oval office, looks at the camera and does his two-knock knuckle tap. He has gone from just barely in frame to being the most powerful man in America. I honestly have no idea how they'll continue in the third season, but Frank has to come down. In media, no one ever ascends the latter of power without then falling later on. Plus, as President of the US now, Frank has nowhere else to go, so I assume the next season will be about him fighting to retain his seat of power. But who knows, anything could happen, and I can't wait to see what it will be.
